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“Heavyweights” Dance Scene Parallels Energy Regulation?

So I began writing a post on the alternative energy interest group power, and in the middle of writing it, I got an epiphany. So I will post the interest group one another time, and instead wanted to share the following. It is a lighter post than typical, but I think it has some interesting parallels to the energy regulatory markets. Even if you don’t find it interesting to make a connection, you should at least enjoy the process of trying to do so.

Recall the movie Heavyweights, with Ben Stiller and the fat camp for young boys? One scene in the movie is where a dance is held at the fat camp, where “Tony” (Ben Stiller) invites a camp of girls to attend. These girls are not the fat camp kind of girls, and would traditionally not have anything to do with the fat boys at a typical school dance. However, since the fat kids were the only boys, those boys had the ability to dance with these girls, something that would have most likely never happened in the traditional setting. Of course the movie has it play out that both the fat kids and the popular girls had a lot of fun and it went well.

How about we take a leap and try to make a connection to energy. I know, this is a bit of a stretch but stay with me through the end before you judge. The popular girls are those that provide the large scale energy, so it would be those that are impacted by government policy. These entities would typically not choose to utilize alternative energy sources, for all the reasons we have discussed before. Of course, this means the fat boys are the alternative energy sources. The dance itself, being that the only two groups there are the popular girls and the fat boys, is the regulation. This regulation mandated that one of two things happens: either you don’t dance (utilize energy) or you dance with a new kind of partner (incorporate alternative energy).

While the fat boys at the camp were first apprehensive to the idea of the dance, due to embarrassment, they were also very excited about the opportunity to get to dance with these girls. The alternative energy industry is similar to this, as they want to have more of these “dances” where regulation requires more of the popular girls to dance with the fat boys. I want to mention, this does not fit perfectly because in the movie “Tony” wanted the boys to get embarrassed and was not happy that it worked out well and they had a blast. I do not think government regulation is trying to make the alternative industry fall on its face with these regulations, but give me a break, I am connecting Heavyweights to energy markets and regulation. In the end, this regulation made for a great way to connect these two groups and it worked out for both parties. I hope that we will see this play out similar in the energy markets, where policy helps to unite these two parties and find a great relationship that works well for both parties and therefore society.

If you have never seen the movie, please stop everything are go find a way to watch it, as it is an all-time great. But at least go watch this scene and while you enjoy the entertainment, just think about how you would connect different characters in the scene to potential participants to our energy regulatory markets. There is plenty of room for our own interpretation and I have some of my own that I think are fitting, so watch and share your connections with me in the comment section.